


some things were meant to be.

by darkjaden825698



Series: Spierfeld Week 2018 [1]
Category: Love Simon (2018), Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli
Genre: Adolescent Sexuality, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Basically Bram gets the hots for Simon and realizes he's gay and Garrett is a good friend about it, Coming Out, Friendship, M/M, Middle School, Sexuality Crisis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 20:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14269116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkjaden825698/pseuds/darkjaden825698
Summary: Bram first met Simon in the eighth grade. There was only one open seat in his math class, and it was next to this dark haired kid with glasses and a Harry Potter t-shirt.Written for Spierfeld week 2018, Day One Prompt: Alternative First Meeting





	some things were meant to be.

Bram first met Simon in the eighth grade. 

He and his mom had just moved to Atlanta following the divorce, and it was is first day at Shady Creek Middle School. Bram was less than thrilled to be switching schools in his last year of middle, having to leave behind all his friends and his teachers, who he actually liked this year.

He had to build up his reputation again. Not that he had much of one in Savannah. But he still had a fair amount of friends, being on the soccer team and in the orchestra (which, even he had to admit, was kind of a weird mix). Now, moving in the middle of the school year, he’d missed soccer tryouts, and Shady Creek didn’t even  _ have  _ an orchestra. So he had no real way to make friends, outside of just talking to people in class.

Bram had never been good at just talking to people in class.

Especially when _ every single one of his teachers felt the need to embarrass him by announcing his as the new transfer student and making him come up and introduce himself. _

Which was such a cliché, Bram was surprised he wasn’t in an anime. He likely would have been seated next to a window, if his middle school had any windows in the classrooms. (Side note: but that made the place feel even more bleak and depressing.)

There was only one open seat in his math class, and it was next to this dark haired kid with glasses and a  _ Harry Potter _ t-shirt. Bram liked Harry Potter, so he smiled at the boy as he sat down next to him.  _ I like your shirt _ , he wanted to say. He tried to say. But he didn’t. He found himself absolutely tongue-tied. The boy smiled bashfully back up at him, before darting his eyes to the side and not looking at Bram for the rest of the hour.

Bram was not the best at making friends.

\---

“Hey, new kid!”

Bram heard somebody calling him from across the lunchroom. He assumed, at least, that they were calling him. As far as he was aware, he was the only new kid at Shady Creek. Bram whipped his head around to see where the voice was coming from, and saw this blonde jock boy grinning and waving him over. He blushed, but walked over to them anyway.

“Yeah?” he stammered.

“Sit with us!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, dude, take a seat.”

This blonde jock boy, who Bram would soon find out was named Garrett, became Bram’s first friend at his new school.

He sat down at the table and everybody introduced themselves to him, rapidly and in quick succession. Bram barely got about half of their names, and forgot most of them a second later, but he remembered Garrett and Nick.

Then, Harry Potter walked up and sat down at the table next to Nick. The kid from math with the Harry Potter shirt. Bram had taken to calling him Harry Potter in his head, because he didn’t know his name and he even kind of looked like Daniel Radcliffe. Young Daniel Radcliffe, that was, from Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets. His eyes caught Bram’s, and Bram had to quickly avert his gaze to make it seem like he wasn’t staring. 

He wasn’t staring, though, right?

“Hey, Simon,” Nick said to Harry. “Have you met Bram, yet?”

Simon was a much better name than Harry Potter.

“Yeah,” Simon said. “He sits next to me in math class.” His voice was soft and high pitched, unlike Nick and Garrett’s, almost as if the poor kid had barely started puberty. Bram was kind of an early bloomer, and his voice dropped when he was in fifth grade. It was a confusing time. He got teased about it a lot. That was when Bram stopped being so talkative.

Simon pushed up his glasses and smiled at Bram, who returned his smile while trying desperately to avoid eye contact. “They said your name is Bram?” 

Bram nodded.

“That’s a funny name.”

Simon got an elbow to the gut from Nick. Garrett laughed.

“Ow! What? I didn’t mean that in a bad way.”

“Simon’s kind of a funny name, too.”

Bram wasn’t sure how he managed to get the words out. It was just a thought that crossed through his mind, and apparently his lips. He immediately bit his upper lip to prevent himself from saying anything else stupid. Nick was laughing now, too. Bram offered them a shy smile.

“I guess it is,” Simon said, not showing even a hint of being offended. “I always think of Simon from Alvin and the Chipmunks. Which is even funnier, because my sisters are named Alice and Eleanor, which sound kinda similar to the names of the other chipmunks.”

His voice was even kinda squeaky like the Chipmunks’. Bram made sure he didn’t say  _ that _ out loud, though.

“I can’t really sing, though,” Simon continued. “My voice keeps cracking on both high notes and low notes. That’s why I only take small roles in drama club, so I never have to embarrass myself by botching a note in a big emotional song or something.”

Simon then stopped talking, and pushed up his glasses with a blush, sinking further into his seat. “Sorry,” he said. “I’m rambling.”

“No, it’s okay,” Bram said. Where was he getting this sudden surge of confidence from? Maybe because he’d been silenced for far too long, too afraid to speak up about the things he was passionate about. He liked hearing Simon ramble, he liked that he was so talkative, so charismatic, so…

Oh God, Bram thought Simon was cute.  _ Really _ cute. He suddenly found himself tongue-tied again. Garrett flashed him a knowing smile as Bram stared at the ground underneath the lunch table. Nick just looked on in confusion.

“ _ Anyway _ ,” he said. “Bram, why don’t you tell us about yourself? You into sports at all?”

“Yeah,” Bram muttered. “I was on the soccer team at my old school.”

“Dude, get out!” Garrett chimed. “So are we!”

Bram’s eyebrows raised, and he looked at Simon, cute, talkative, nerdy boy Simon, who just blushed and pushed up his glasses. “All of you guys?”

“Well, not Simon,” Nick said, “or Leah.” He pointed towards one of the other girls at the table. She was quietly scribbling something into a notebook, but Bram couldn’t see what. She looked up at the mention of her name, and smiled over at Bram. “None of the girls, actually. So really just me and Garrett. We only have a boy’s soccer team.”

“Yeah, too bad, too,” said this other girl at the table. She was blonde and tan and her face was covered in freckles. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail. Nick’s face lit up when she started speaking. “If they allowed girls on the team, you  _ know _ I would smoke all of you bitches.”

“Don’t use that word, Amy. You know I don’t like it,” said Leah.

“Aww but it’s so good to use against the boys. They all recoil in horror when they find out I think of them as a  _ female _ dog.”

“That’s kinda sexist,” Leah muttered.

“Whatever, man.”

The conversation continued around Bram, but he was no longer paying attention. He couldn’t keep his mind, or his eyes, for that matter, off Simon, who just sat there, diagonally across from him to the left, reading a large hardcover book and occasionally taking bites of his sandwich or pushing up his glasses.

_ What book are you reading? _ Bram wanted to ask. But he couldn’t. His brain wouldn’t send the signal to his mouth to form the words. He was rendered completely speechless by this shaggy-haired, four-eyed bookworm. In his stomach, caterpillars cocooned, hatched, and emerged as butterflies, fluttering around in his gut, all in a matter of seconds. 

Simon never looked up from his book, never saw him staring, until the bell to end the lunch period rang, and everybody scurried off to their next class. He smiled at Bram before bookmarking his page, closing up his book ( _ Half-Blood Prince _ . Of course it would be Harry Potter), and leaving the lunchroom with the rest of them.

Bram sat expressionless for a moment, before shaking himself awake and grabbing his things to head to class. On his way out of the lunchroom, Garrett caught up with him.

“Hey, dude,” he said. “Where’s your next class?”

“Uhh,” Bram fumbled to pull out his schedule from the pocket in his jeans. “English with Ms. Harper, room...E26?”

“Awesome, that’s where I’m headed. I’ll show you the way.”

“Cool, thank you!”

They walked through C hallway and into D hallway. That’s when Garrett nudged him in the arm and leaned in to whisper something to him.

“So, hey, no judging or anything, but are you like, gay?”

The blood drained from Bram’s face. He froze. “Wh-what?”

“Seriously, dude, I don’t mind or anything. It’s just that I saw the way you were looking at Spier.”

“Who?”

“Simon.”

“Oh.” Suddenly the blood rushed back to his face, and Bram could feel his face getting hotter as his cheeks flushed with color.

“You should ask him out.”

“ _ What? _ Wait, is he...you know?”

“Gay? No idea, but he’s always kinda given me a vibe, you know? Maybe it’s the glasses.”

“Can we not talk about this at school, where so many people can hear us? I don’t...I don’t want anybody to find out.”

“Sure thing, dude. Let’s meet up after school. I have soccer practice, but we can trade numbers or something.”

“O-okay.”

\---

_ So the school dance is coming up. _ Garrett texted Bram one day after school.

_ It’s not really a dance, it’s a “fun fest,” whatever that means. _

_ That’s not my point. _

_ What is your point? _

_ I think you know my point. _

Bram sighed. For months now, Garrett had been trying to set him up with Simon. And while the thought of being with Simon made Bram’s heart feel ten times lighter, it also weighed it down like an anchor. He liked Simon. A lot. Like a lot, a lot. To the point that every night, while trying to fall asleep, Bram would picture Simon in bed with him, with his arms wrapped around him. Maybe that was weird, but it really helped Bram get to sleep at night, especially in the beginning, when he was still adjusting to the new house.

_ I’m not going to ask Simon out. He’s definitely straight. _

_ How do you know? _

_ Because I’m never that lucky. It would be too perfect. Besides, have you seen the way he and Leah are? They’re practically inseparable. There’s definitely something going on there. _

_ Nah, dude, I think you’re looking too far into things. _

_ And I think you’re just seeing what you want to see. _

_ I’m not the one who wants to see it, dude.  _ Eyes emoji.

_ Whatever. _

Smiley face.

“Just do it,” Garrett whispered to him after lunch the next day. “Just ask him.”

“Okay, okay, fine!” Bram whispered back. “If it’ll shut you up.”

Garrett beamed as Bram rolled his eyes and walked over to Simon, who was heading out of the lunchroom.

“Hey, Simon,” he said, tapping him on the shoulder.

“Yeah?”

“Are you, uh...are you g--” Bram froze. He was stuttering, he was nervous, his words got twisted. Finally, he swallowed his words, gathered some courage, and just said it. “Are you going to the dance this Friday?”

“You mean the ‘fun fest?’”

“Yeah, that.”

“Yeah, I am. I’m going with Jackie Lauren from homeroom.”

And suddenly, it felt like the ground was crumbling beneath Bram’s feet. Like he was being dragged down into an early grave. His heart shriveled up like a raisin, collapsing and falling into the pit of his stomach, crushing all of the butterflies and cocoons.

“Oh,” he said.

“Yeah,” Simon said, oblivious to the change in Bram’s demeanor. “Who are you going with?”

“Uhh...I don’t know...I haven’t asked anybody yet. I’ll probably just end up going with friends. Or not at all. Probably not at all.”

“You should come with Jackie and me, it’ll be fun.”

“Yeah, maybe,” he stuttered.

Bram checked his nonexistent watch and made an excuse about being late to his next class, which Simon  _ obviously knew was false _ , seeing as the bell just rang and they still had five minutes to get to class. He stumbled off past him and pushed his way through the crowd of kids. He only had five minutes to get to class, but he still raced himself into the bathroom and locked himself in one of the stalls.

_ I told you he was straight,  _ he texted Garrett.

_ What? _

_ He’s going with Jackie Lauren. _

_ Oh, damn. She’s cute, too. I’m so sorry, dude. _

_ Whatever, man. I never should have listened to you. _

_ Hey, I said I was sorry, dude! How was I supposed to know Simon was going out with the hottest girl in the eighth grade? _

_ Just forget it. I’m not going to the dance anyway. _

_ Dude, come on, don’t be like that. I’ll go with you, it’ll be fun. _

_ No offense, Garrett, but I’m not into you that way. _

_ Hurtful. Lol, but no worries, I get it. I meant just as friends. Come on. Please? You’re my best friend, dude, you have to be there! _

_ Fiiiiiiiine, but I’m not slow dancing with you. _

_ Deal. _

\---

Jackie Lauren was a horrible dancer. Just. Just the whitest. Granted, Simon wasn’t much better, but at least Simon was adorably shy about it. Bram couldn’t take his eyes off of him in that really-tacky-yet-impossibly-cute striped sweater that somehow contained every single Hogwarts house color. But Jackie had this look on confidence on her face, like she thought she was the greatest dancer in the school, like she could be on Dancing with the Stars and win.

Bram knew immediately that she would not. She would be eliminated before the first round even began.

Though, points for confidence, Bram supposed.

The night was long and boring and painfully mediocre. The punch was somewhere between tasteless and way too sweet. Bram could only drink one glass before he felt his teeth starting to rot away. There weren’t even any snacks, much to the dismay of Bram’s rumbling stomach.

And the song choice was  _ abysmal. _ They went from “Low” by Flo Rida to “Dance Dance” by Fall Out Boy to “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. Granted, none of those songs were especially terrible (okay maybe Don’t Stop Believing was), but it was just the juxtaposition of them that threw everybody off.

Finally, the DJ played a slow song, an acoustic version of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love,” and that was when Bram couldn’t stand looking at Simon and Jackie anymore. They were close, faces mere inches away from each other. Bram was honestly surprised that one of the chaperones hadn’t come to break them apart and make them stand an arm’s length apart yet. Jackie stared up at her boyfriend with adoration in her eyes.

Bram was almost 100% positive that they were going to kiss, and he  _ really _ didn’t want to see that.

“Sorry, dude,” Garrett said, walking up to him and handing him another glass of punch, which Bram took, but didn’t drink.

“Not your fault,” he responded.

“Did you wanna go somewhere else?”

Bram sighed. “No, not really.” Then he added, “I like this song.”

“Me, too. Who does this version again?”

“Twenty-one Pilots, I think?”

Garrett took a sip of his punch, and recoiled in horror at how disgusting it was. Bram nearly smiled.

“ _ Wow. Thank you...Be right back.” _

The words were barely audible above the music, but since it was a slightly softer song, and Bram had been standing only a few feet away, he heard it clear as day. He turned just in time to see Simon sprinting through the door to the gym and out into the hallway.

“What was that all about?” Garrett remarked.

“Dunno,” Bram said. “Maybe he had to go to the bathroom or something.”

Jackie Lauren stood in the same spot, a confused, hurt, and sad expression plastered onto her face. Simon was an idiot for running out on her like that. Bram may be gay, but even he had to admit she looked pretty cute in her dress.

“Hey,” Garrett said, patting him on the shoulder. “I’ll go talk to Jackie, make sure she doesn’t feel left out. You go find Spier.”

“Garrett, what are you getting at?”

“Okay, look, I just wanna talk to the cute, recently-single girl that’s standing there all alone on the dancefloor, just waiting for somebody to dance with her. Plus, it gives you an opportunity to talk to Simon.”

“Aren’t you jumping the gun a little bit on this?”

“Dude, Spier literally  _ bolted _ out of her arms during a slow song. You don’t come back from that.”

“I guess.”

Garrett patted him on the back and walked over to where Jackie Lauren was standing, arms crossed and seemingly fighting back tears. Bram guessed now was as good a time as any to heed Garrett’s advice, so he bounded out the door in the direction that Simon ran off into.

\---

Bram found Simon in the bathroom of C hallway, quite a ways away from the gym. The only reason he found him there is because he heard the sink running from down the hall. Bram waited outside the bathroom for him to come out. When Simon emerged, he nearly jumped, seeing Bram there.

“What are you doing here?” he said. It wasn’t passive-aggressive, like that question usually is. It sounded like Simon was just honestly wondering.

“I, um…”

_ Come on, Greenfeld, _ Garrett’s voice sounded in his head.  _ Don’t freeze up now! Talk to him. _

“I saw you run out of the gym. You looked upset. I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“I’m fine,” Simon said, in the way that one says it when they are most definitely  _ not _ fine.

“Do you want to...talk about it? I know we don’t talk much, but you’re my friend, and I’m here for you.”

“Thanks, Bram.”

“Don’t mention it.”

They stood there, Simon clutching his left arm with his right, and Bram shuffling his foot on the cold tile. Neither of them looked at each other.

“Is...is everything okay with Jackie?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “She...she told me she’s falling in love with me.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

“Do you...love her back?”

“Does it look like I love her back?”

“Good point.”

Bram couldn’t help but look up at him. He looked so sad, so vulnerable, so  _ confused. _ His face was flushed and his cheeks were puffy. He didn’t look like he’d been crying, more just like he’d splashed water on his face. Bram wanted more than anything to wrap his arms around him, kiss him on the cheek.

But he just. Couldn’t.

So instead, he said, “I’ll see you back in the gym?”

“Actually,” Simon said, pulling out his phone and checking the display, “I told my mom to come pick me up.”

“Oh,” Bram said.

“She’s here, actually.” Simon slipped his phone back into his pocket and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Can you...tell Jackie I’m sorry?”

“Y-yeah,” Bram said. “Of course.”

“Thanks, Bram. You’re the best.”

“Yeah, no...no problem.”

Simon smiled weakly and gave Bram a pat on the shoulder as he passed by him and headed towards the exit. His touch sent shivers down Bram’s spine.

“I’ll see you on Monday,” Simon called.

“Yeah, see you,” Bram muttered, but Simon was already gone.

\---

If Bram could pinpoint the exact moment he realized that Jacques was Simon, it would be when they first started emailing, and Jacques told Blue about hiding in the bathroom from his girlfriend during the eighth grade dance.

Bram knew, because he was there. He read the words on his screen over and over again, trying to memorize them in case he looked away and they disappeared, in case this was all just some crazy dream. He never, ever wanted to wake up.

His crush, since the eighth grade, was the boy he was emailing. The one who’d contacted him about sharing his secret.

Simon Spier was gay.

So all this time, Garrett had been  _ right? _

It felt too good to be true.

But still, maybe deep down, Bram had always known. The way Bram had caught Simon’s eyes at lunch. The way he would sometimes look up from his book, glance over at Bram without moving his head, smile to himself, and return his attention to his book. All this time, Bram thought he was just projecting. Wishful thinking, he told himself. There was no way Simon was gay.

But he was.

And he was the guy he was falling in love with over email.

And maybe it was wishful thinking again, but Bram thought that, perhaps, Simon was falling in love with him, too.


End file.
